Thank you Rocky.
My Dad fought in Korea as a Marine. He became a career district Forester, one of his charges was an Man a few years older. Occasionally he would disappear or be a bit gruff with the public. My Father always fought the administrators who wanted to get rid of him and succeeded. My Mother once asked why he stood up for this Man. My Dad just said that Bill had fought at Pelelui and that anyone who lived through that deserved a break or two.
God Almighty did he ever.
Reminds me of a fellow who died when I was very young. He as a simple farmer all his life, except when War called. He went into the Corps, as that was what was open when they said he enlisted.
Anyway, my elders who were his neighbors and friends said he was always quiet and polite. But, every now and then he'd just grab up a bottle (or a Mason jar mostly) and head off to the furthest field he could get to. He'd stay out there for a day or two, or three, at a stretch, no matter the weather. After that, he'd come home, work it off, go to church and be fine again for a while.
They said he fought in the first "Great War". Some place over in France called "Bellow Woods", as they called it.
I think, too, of a SEAL I never really knew, just saw. He was old, for a SEAL; an instructor. He was sitting on the end of a jetty, in the midst of one Hell of a storm, waves breaking around him, rain pounding, winds whipping. I recall one of my elders who had the contract to work that job (I was young) asking the SPs about him and whether he'd be alright. The SP said "he'll be fine, one way or the other; he has just seen too much". I didn't know what that meant then, but the men I was with did.
God bless them all. May their demons finally be quiet and their souls finally be at Peace.
